Project Details
- Project Name
- Fairyland Guorui Villas
- Location
- Beijing, China
- Architect
- UNStudio
- Client/Owner
- Guorui Group
- Project Types
- Planning
- Project Scope
- New Construction
- Size
- 252,833 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2015
- Shared by
- Selin Ashaboglu
- Team
- Project Team: Ben van Berkel, Hannes Pfau with Markus van Aalderen and Shoujiong Zhang, Whenzen Yi, Fernie Lai, Yuchen Liu, Irina Bogdan, Cristina Gimenez, Gil Greis
- Project Status
- Built
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The
Fairyland Guorui Villa complex is located in the Miyun Economic & Technical
Development Zone 1 in Beijing. The site is situated on a plot where two rivers
converge, surrounded by natural scenery and mountain views. In order to take
full advantage of the location, the layout of the villas follows an open plan
organization.
The public spaces within and
adjacent to the complex follow the design philosophy set out in the masterplan
and respond to the context of the site in the waterside location. This includes a riverside boulevard and a tree-lined
boulevard as well as a grand central garden. The garden landscaping of the
whole development corresponds to the surrounding natural environment. To
support this pedestrian-friendly outdoor quality for the residents, the
vehicular traffic has been kept to a minimum and cars are confined to a central
parking location.
Essential
to the design approach for the villa development is the combination of
individuality with a distinct quality of community. As a result, a mix of
consistency and singular identity defines the scheme.
Like sculptures, the individual villas line the mix of orderly pathways and
free form structures oriented towards different views of the surrounding
natural landscape.
Facade
design
The
architectural masterplan envisions sculptural villas scattered along the
riverside, each with its own characteristics and living spaces and embedded in
the communal space to stimulate a neighborhood effect. The facades of the
villas are designed to create a strong inside/outside condition and in order to
achieve this employ different ‘sets’ of integrated features, including balconies,
bay windows, canopies or terraces and roof-top gardens. Various arrangements of
these features are applied to create different types of villas across the compound,
enabling variety and preserving the sense of uniqueness through the organization
of geometric elements.
Through
the creation of these base elements, numerous variations are made possible,
while keeping an overall balance and consistency throughout the development and
enhancing the efficiency in the actual production and construction of the
facade.
Within
the organization of the villas, modern and classical living are combined with
respect to family life. The villas offer a variety of rooms for family members
of all ages: some communal for shared family activities, some for entertainment
and family dining and others for privacy. The incorporation of the outside spaces
into the facade design adds further variety to the living spaces, with the
directional windows, recessed balconies and the activation of the roof as a
living space creating a balance between privacy for the owners and the most
possible daylight, wide views and open spaces.
The addition of these facade features further connects the experience of the
architecture to the surrounding landscapes. Through slight transformations in
shape - created by the slight twisting of the curved surfaces of the façade -
rhythm in the elevations is created which adds continuity and further unifies
the architecture with the landscape. In addition the clay color of the facade
fosters this intrinsic connection between built and natural environment.
The facade cladding is made
from recycled stone produced from powdered stone and is applied to the facade
in a contemporary fashion. This enables the realization of the fluent curves,
while permitting the necessary tolerances for the local construction team.
Sustainability
Numerous energy saving devices and solutions are
used in the villas. Passive design techniques are employed which take into
account the orientation of the individual buildings and the location and size
of the glazed portions of the facade with respect to heat gain. Further energy
saving installations include the use of advanced heat insulation in the walls
and windows, an adjustable floor heating system, solar energy, a state of the
art ventilation system that removes nearly all of the unwanted and unhealthy
particles and provides clean and healthy air, a wind power system for lighting
supply and sustainable construction materials.